That Which Once Was Hope
by SHSLAwesome
Summary: What if, on the night before the discovery of Mukuro Ikusaba's body, the mastermind had succeeded in killing Naegi? This is the students' last chance to get out and Kirigiri will have to convince the others of her innocence. Will they survive the final class trial? Contains spoilers for Danganronpa. Written from Kirigiri's point of view.


**Hello and welcome to a story that is making me cry as I write it. I got this idea while waiting for one of my classes to start and since I haven't seen this done yet, I decided to do it myself. For the record, I love Naegi and the idea of him dying is one of the saddest things to me since the end of Persona 3 (the journey, not the answer), so this is really hard for me to write. I also have to go on youtube and watch someone play the end of the game so I can manipulate what happens to fit this story as best as I can. I also ship NaegixKirigiri (or Naegiri, if you will) so the idea of her grieving over his death will come up a lot. I will try to save that for her inner emotions as much as possible, as not to break her stoic mask more than necessary. I can't remember if there is anything else I wanted to say...**

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**Okay you can read the story now...**

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**Go away! You're creeping me out! =)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei. If I did, Chihiro and Ishimaru would still be alive and the localized (English) version would be named something that doesn't make the game sound like a First Person Shooter (seriously though "trigger happy havoc"?)**

Kirigiri's POV

I burst through the door which I knew led to his room. I knew what the Mastermind was planning and I had to stop him. I rushed into the room of the only person in that school I felt I could trust. But at the moment I entered the room, my heart stopped completely…

…There he was. Lying in his bed with a survival knife plunged deep in his chest. The same survival knife that our classmates had trusted him to keep safe. We all knew that Naegi would never commit murder. Who would have ever thought that someone could kill him? I walked over to him and knelt down by his bedside. His eyes were wide open, as if in shock, and the pain he suffered was spelled out clearly on his face. I looked into those eyes which once held hope for the future. Those kind, soft, green eyes were now grey and empty. His entire expression was void of the sincere optimism and hope that made Naegi unique from everyone else. All of the color had drained from his face, leaving his skin pale and ghost-like. I took one of his cold hands in my own gloved one. In a futile attempt at finding one last ray of hope, I checked his pulse. Of course, it had stopped when the knife went through his heart. I finally let go of his hand and placed my now ungloved hand on his cheek. I felt tearstains on the cold, soft skin of my former classmate. I felt that all of this could have been prevented if I had just kept him closer instead of pushing him away like I always did. The pain and guilt rushed over me and I soon felt salty tears sting my face as they streamed down my cheeks and landed on his. No matter how hard I tried the tears wouldn't stop and I found myself forcing back agonized wails. I must have done a poor job concealing my grief as one of my classmates, Aoi Asahina, came to see what was wrong. Upon seeing Naegi's still body with the knife sticking out of its chest, Asahina screamed. At that point it was useless for me to hold back much longer and I began to let out all of the emotions which I felt from the moment I saw my friend's dead body. The others came running into the room when they heard Asahina's scream and my own cries. The emotions felt by everyone in the room varied from sadness to disbelief to anger. Finally, after staying there in shock for what felt like hours (though it was only a few minutes), Togami pointed an accusing finger.

"What is the meaning of this, Kirigiri?" Of course, I knew Togami would suspect me, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "You're the only one besides Naegi who wasn't with us in the Gym, and now Naegi is dead."

I tried to wipe my tears away and stand up, but Asahina put her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "What are you saying, Togami? Isn't it clear enough by her reaction that she is just as surprised about this as we are?"

At that point I spoke, quietly at first, as I tried to regain my composure. "That's not entirely true, Asahina." Everyone looked at me with shocked expressions. I pulled out the master key. "I took this from the principal's office. It can open any door in the school. I was investigating the second floor of the dormitories when it happened. After I finally regained my memories, I realized that the Mastermind would want to get rid of me as someone in his way. Whoever he is, he planned to frame me for murder. And he decided that the easiest target would be…Naegi…" My voice trailed off near the end and his name came out in a sob.

"I-I think she's telling the truth, Togami-chi." Hagakure said, still surprised to see Naegi's dead body.

"Alright, if that's the truth, then tell us who you really are, Kirigiri." Togami said, glaring daggers at me.

"Fine…" I did my best to regain my composure. "I've come to understand that what I was most likely called at this school was the Super High School Level Detective."

"Super High School Level Detective…" Togami repeated.

"My reason for coming to this school was to meet the Hope's Peak Academy principal. The man who left me as a child. My own father."

"Your father was the principal Kirigiri-chan?"

"Does that mean your father is the mastermind?" Hagakure asked.

I glared at him. "No. He's not the mastermind." Togami looked at me suspiciously.

"How can you be so sure? What proof do you have that he's not the one pulling the strings."

"I have no proof. I don't need to prove anything to you. Right now what's important is finding out who the mastermind is. We know it was the mastermind who murdered Naegi and that's all that matters right now!" My voice rose and I began yelling at Togami. He really is insensitive.

I took a moment to regain my composure before turning to face my classmates. I allowed my stoic mask to cover my emotions and spoke. "First we must talk to Monokuma. He has this trial planned so that I will be found guilty and be executed so we need to try and make this into a fair trial." I turned to Togami and said, "Togami-kun, I need you to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because we can only find out the truth if we stick together through this trial. No running away. No backing out. If I go to speak with Monokuma alone, my chances of succeeding to turn the tables in the trial will fail. He would see my attempts as a way of escaping an unjustified execution. If someone else comes with me, we can convince him that going through with this trial the way it is will only show people that the mastermind cannot stick to his own rules. Everyone will realize that you cannot destroy hope with despair."

"While this may be true, why should I be the one to come with you? Why not have one of the others go with you?" Togami inquired. I could tell by his tone that he was confused.

"Everyone else is still too upset and that will be noticeable to Monokuma if they come with me to face him. If the mastermind's goal is to make us despair, then it wouldn't help our argument to bring someone along who appears to be despairing over this."

"Fair enough... Alright then, let's go speak with Monokuma."

With that Togami and I walked towards the gym. I noticed my heart beating faster with every step and hoped that my fear and anxiety didn't show on my face. The walk from Naegi's room to the gym seemed to take hours, and we both stopped before the doors. Togami sighed audibly before opening the doors to the room where we would have the best chance at finding Monokuma.

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**Cliffhanger! Because I'm evil! Also I couldn't think of anything else! I'm experiencing both writer's block and "college gives way to much work" Syndrome (seriously what the hell man?! I never get any free time). That's also why I haven't updated my other story and I honestly don't know when I'll get around to it... Just Monday I had a freaking Pre-Calc test and Tuesday I had a Midterm in Educational Psychology (which is an upper level psych course so it was all essay questions). I'm also going to possibly write and Danganronpa version of "A Christmas Carol" at some point and hopefully publish that next December but that's a while off. But yeah so this is getting somewhere and Abyss: the Despair Chronicles is on hiatus until I get both time and inspiration and the next chapter of that will be longer, the first was just a prologue. So...yeah (I suck at author's notes)**

**So...yes I broke Kirigiri. I'm sorry. I love her so much but if she kept her hard exterior during the discovery of his body then it would have been harder to convince the others. Don't worry though, it won't be resolved that easily. I think that I'll have Asahina believe her but the others still have doubts (because Asahina is adorable). Also, Togami is earning the title of Super High School Level (or Super Duper High School) Prick (Dangan Ronpa Abridged Thing reference). I'm not sure of the part that the students will play in the trial, however there will most likely be Genocider Syo, which will definitely take a while to write. But that's chapter three (possibly). Well until next time! Thanks for reading, Arigatou Gozaimasu**


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